


Venture Verzögern

by MagitekUnit05953234



Series: deutsch-englisch wörterbuch über lieben [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Beach Episode, Developing Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Mentioned Gladiolus Amicita
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-18 10:53:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21509872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagitekUnit05953234/pseuds/MagitekUnit05953234
Summary: Prompto turns and leans against the porch’s railing. “What are we gonna do now?”Ignis looks over Prompto and Noct and then consults his phone for the time. “I suppose it’s about time we went on a vacation.”
Relationships: Prompto Argentum/Noctis Lucis Caelum/Ignis Scientia
Series: deutsch-englisch wörterbuch über lieben [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1630333
Comments: 7
Kudos: 60





	Venture Verzögern

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whythekwehnot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whythekwehnot/gifts).



> That's right. It's a happy one for once.

“So, he’s just gone,” Prompto says as Gladio and his chocobo disappear down the road from Caem.

“Yep,” Noct has that twisted-up look on his face that he gets when he’s trying really hard to be nonchalant. “Said he had stuff to do. Can’t argue with that, I guess.”

“Well, that’s stupid,” Prompto turns and leans against the porch’s railing. “What are we gonna do now?”

Ignis hums consideringly. He looks over Prompto and Noct and then consults his phone for the time. “I suppose it’s about time we went on a vacation.”

_What?_

In all the time Prompto has known Ignis, he has _never_ suggested such a blatant dismissal of responsibilities. They have royal arms to find! Mythril to dig out of some daemon pit somewhere! A wedding to go to! A kingdom to save!

“A vacation?” Noct breathes out a laugh, shifting his weight from one hip to the other. “Since when have you ever wanted a vacation? Took bacterial fuckin’ pneumonia to get you to take a goddamn nap in 754.”

“It would be beneficial to all of us to take a proper break,” Ignis has a weird look in his eye, and Prompto can’t quite place what it is. “Besides, trying to progress without a quarter of our team is likely to get you killed considering the current cultural climate.”

“Sure,” Noct shakes his head, but he’s smiling. “Sure, okay. We take a vacation. What does that even mean, though? We can’t exactly rent out a goddamn beach house and kick it while we wait for Gladio to come back.”

“We could,” Ignis tilts his head. “I’ve been saving the majority of my personal cut of hunt earnings in case we needed them later. Dipping into seven months’ savings for a week or two at a rental cottage off the Quay is absolutely a luxury we can afford.”

“Damn Iggy, you’ve been holding out on us!” Prompto grins, shooting a look at a flustered Noct. “Whatcha say, Noct? We’re probably not gonna get another chance like this!”

Noct hesitates as if he’s really considering, but Prompto would bet his left arm that Noct’s been wanting a break since the day Insomnia went up in smoke.

“Fuck it. Alright,” Noct runs a hand through his hair —which is getting pretty long since he’s somehow managed to dodge every one of Ignis’s suggestions that he cut it over the last few months— and shakes it out of his eyes when it falls into them. “Let’s leave Caem to the kids and take a hike.”

And then they do.

»»———— XV ————««

They’ve never stayed in one of these cottages before. They’re set back along the cliffs overlooking the Quay, close enough to the ocean to walk there but not quite “beachfront” material, and are thus considerably cheaper than a room at the hotel on the water. Not anywhere near as cheap as the caravan by the parking lot —or _anywhere_ else in Lucis really— but it’s not so unbelievably pricey as to make Prompto want to eat nothing but beans and rice for the next century to appease his phantom wallet pains.

Anyway.

They’ve never stayed in one of these cottages before, but they’re pretty cute. They cater near exclusively to couples as the rental agent showing them the place was quick to assert when the three of them inquired about renting a place, so the cottages are all cozy one-bedroom affairs. Considering that they’re sleeping rough in tents more often than not, nobody is too bothered by that. The one issue is sleeping arrangements, but after Ignis and Prompto verbally trip over each other for five minutes trying to ensure that Noct gets sole rights to the ridiculously massive Elivagar King bed Noct calls it quits and tells them to both just share it with him.

“There’s no point in anyone sleeping on the couch when the bed’s the size of Titan’s ass,” Noct says eloquently.

Really, how could they refuse such a compelling argument as that?

The next point of contention, because apparently nothing can ever be easy, is whether or not Ignis is gonna be cooking anything during their stay here.

“We’re on vacation,” Noct insists, spread out like a starfish in the center of the bed. “You are not working during the vacation _you_ suggested.”

“It’s not ‘working,’” Ignis replies, investigating the little kitchen area tucked beside the living room. “I find no issue with cooking. The gods know you would all starve if I didn’t.”

“That’s working!”

Prompto mentally checks through his private little section of Noct’s magic hammerspace. “Why don’t we buy most of our meals and Iggy and I can take turns cooking whenever we don’t feel like doing that.”

“That’s expensive,” Noct says. He pauses, then sits up. “Right?”  
  
“Sure,” Prompto says, drawing his wallet out of the void and slapping it down on the granite island dividing the kitchen area from the living room. “But Iggy’s not the only one who’s been saving up. I don’t have a lot but I can treat us to dinner for a week… probably?”  
  
The former poor kid in Prompto is crying at the thought of losing the cushion he’s built up from taking photography gigs from Vyv whenever they drop by Lestallum but also? He’s never really had the chance to treat his friends before. It’s kinda… exciting.

“I suppose that settles it,” Ignis has that look in his eye again. Prompto can’t hold his gaze, so he drops it to the floor.

“We’re here to relax and have fun, right? So let’s just do it!”

»»———— XV ————««

This is weird, Prompto decides. It’s really weird.

Sure, they’ve had a few breather days here and there since this trip started. Whenever Noct’s chronic pain would act up they’d stop and let him sleep it off, and they took a day off after Ignis got his leg stuck in a wyvern trap during a hunt one time and would definitely not have two feet right now if Noct hadn’t drowned him in curatives after Gladio pried the trap off. 

So, yeah they’ve had breaks before but not like this. Ignis seems determined to ignore the looming threat of Imperial domination and whatnot, and Noct is going along with it because he’s never really been the biggest fan of having to be a savior anyway. It makes Prompto feel a little weird to follow along since Ignis is usually one of the first people to push the group forward toward Altissia, right behind Gladio only because Gladio thinks a lot less before he speaks.

It’s odd, but nice. Really nice.

»»———— XV ————««

“Hey,” Noct says one morning after dragging himself out of bed. He’s sleep-rumpled and there’s lines in his face from his pillow. Prompto tries not to think about how he’s been cuddled up right inbetween him and Ignis for the last three days now. He knows he’ll blush down to his bones if he does. “Why don’t we go swimming or something?”

“Swimming?” Prompto echoes. He was never really much for swimming, though he had to learn enough to pass a practical exam on water rescue when he was applying for Noct’s guard. It isn’t something he’s ever tried for fun. As a kid he didn’t like public pools for obvious reasons, and that was really the only swimming option in Insomnia if you don’t count the shipyards which… no one should count those. No one.

“What’s the point in staying at a beach if you don’t get in the water at least once?” Noct shrugs. “It only makes sense.”

“That sounds like a lovely idea,” Ignis raises his everything bagel —begrudgingly store bought at Prompto’s insistence— in a toast as Noct trudges over to the kitchen and begins pawing through the basket of breads and fruits they got for when no one really felt like cooking breakfast. “If I remember correctly, we do have swimwear packed.”

Noon finds them traipsing out to the beach with towels in tow. Ignis is dressed in a conservative trisuit with a zip down the front. The legs reach to his midthigh. Prompto tries —and absolutely fails— not to stare. Noct’s dressed simply to Prompto in swim trunks and sandals, but he doesn’t have a shirt which means there’s absolutely nothing stopping Prompto from eyeing up his beautifully toned abdomen and muscular shoulders. An atrophic scar —thick and pale pink and branched like lightning— cuts down his back like roots into soil. What Prompto wouldn’t give to press his lips to the crest of it and kiss down the line— _no_. Prompto chastises himself as they finally make it to the beach proper. There is no room in Noctis’s nor Ignis’s life for a hopelessly pining pleb that is so far below their level it’s not even funny.

Not to mention Noct is literally engaged to be married to the Oracle. Yeah.

They pick a spot a hundred feet or so from where the waves meet the beach and lay their towels down on the sand. Ignis materializes a beach umbrella bought who knows when and stakes it at an angle above the towels.

“Come _on_ ,” Noct pulls at the hem of Ignis’s suit sleeve. “I’m not gonna let you sit here this whole time.”

Ignis acquises with a soft smile on his face and Prompto watches Noct ferry him to the surf. They’re not quite hand in hand, but if Prompto squints then… they’re close.

They’re close.

»»———— XV ————««

Prompto knows he ought not to listen in. He _really_ ought not to listen in.

Three guesses as to what Prompto is doing, and the first two do not count.

Noct is awake before him, which is weird but not entirely unheard of. Sometimes Ignis wakes Noct up early for something or another, and sometimes he just has a nightmare and doesn’t manage to get back to sleep before the sun comes up and going back to sleep isn’t logical at that point. Those days he usually sleeps in the car when he can, so. No loss.

Anyway, Noct’s up and talking to Ignis quietly across the bedroom. When Prompto sneaks a peek across the room through his eyelashes he sees Ignis perched on the cute little windowseat with Noct leaning against the wall beside him. They haven’t realized Prompto’s awake, and Prompto isn’t sure if he wants to correct them on that.

“Really,” Noct is saying, the deeper tones of his voice carrying easily despite his clear attempts to be quiet. “Just admit it, okay? This is never something you would have done before—”

“Noct.”

“Ignis,” Noct echoes. Prompto can practically hear the grin in his voice, though he’s turned away enough that Prompto wouldn’t be able to see it even if he did risk another glance their way. “If someone looked up the definition to _workaholic_ in the dictionary, the only thing under it would be a crisp eight by ten of your face with a caption telling me to get my outlines done. You had a reason for suggesting all of this, and I know it wasn’t Gladio taking a mental health month or whatever the hell he’s off doing.”

“Why question it?” Ignis deflects. “These last few months have been draining for everyone. A break is well within reason.”

Neither of them speak for a moment. There’s a laugh and the rustle of curtains, and when Prompto chances a tiny roll over to see if he can take a look at them with his bangs obscuring his open eyes, Noct is leaning down in front of where Ignis is sitting and—

No fucking way.

Prompto nearly screams. He barely manages to keep it together and turns his face down so it’s mashed into his pillow, hopefully hiding his reaction from the other two.

Not that they’re probably paying a lot of attention to Prompto right now, seeing as they’re very busy _kissing over there_.

Now, Prompto isn’t a kid. He’s fully aware of the fact that other people his age are well and capable of having relationships and that it’s nothing to make a big deal about. No need to gossip to the others on the playground, no need to make faces and sing the tree sitting song. However, this is _Ignis and Noct_ . Not only are these two people Prompto has been head over heels for since high school who are entirely out of his league, but Noct’s the prince —king, technically— of Lucis and Ignis is his royal advisor. Prompto is almost certain those two positions aren’t meant to have this kind of involvement with one another… not to mention Noct is _still_ definitely engaged to Lady Luna.

“It’s because of him, isn’t it?” Noct asks, his voice soft and overfond. Prompto can’t help the little pang of guilt that hits him over eavesdropping when Noct and his… boyfriend? Fling? _Clandestine lover_? Well. When the two of them are having such an intimate-sounding chat. Prompto hasn’t the slightest idea what they’re talking about, and is already drifting off enough to where thinking it through takes far too much effort to try.

“I can’t begin to guess what you mean,” Ignis replies, his tone equally smooth and butter-soft. 

“We’ve talked about this,” Noct pauses. There’s another quiet noise, a barely-audible peck on the lips from what Prompto can tell. Prompto’s face is red-hot, he’s sure. He’s surprised he hasn’t set his pillow on fire. “Gearing up to talk to him about it? We didn’t need a vacation and a beach house and breakfast in bed for that. If he didn’t want any of this then waving our money around isn’t going to make him change his mind.”

“I’m not trying to sway him. I wanted him to have something nice while he can. I have a feeling that Altissia will be a wake-up call in regards to just how dire the war has become. I don’t want him to lose sight of himself. Of what we’re fighting for in the first place. I don’t want any of us to.”

Prompto goes back to sleep.

»»———— XV ————««

They only have a few days left to themselves in this beach house before they have to move on. Prompto isn’t sure if they’re gonna keep taking it easy somewhere else or if they’re gonna get back to the hunting grind as they wait for Gladio to show back up. No one has mentioned it and Prompto hates to ruin the good times by bringing it up.

Now that he knows Ignis and Noct are together, it seems like he ought to have noticed way before now. Anyone with eyes could see the way they get all soft and doe-eyed around each other. They’re practically attached at the hip this morning, sitting on the loveseat in the quaint little living room with Ignis doing something on his phone and Noctis dozing into his shoulder.

Prompto chastises himself for feeling… left out. Honestly, he has no reason to wish to be in the middle of those two. They’re perfect for each other. Not to mention romantic relationships are built from a “couple” because, well. They only fit two. It’s the way the world works.

Prompto keeps his sorry thoughts to himself.

»»———— XV ————««

“There’s a meteor shower tonight,” Noct says. “Specs and I are going to go up on the roof to watch it.”  
  
“Cool,” Prompto closes out of King’s Knight and sets his phone facedown in his lap. “I hope you two have a good time.”

“You’re invited, you know,” Noct’s words are loose and quiet. He slides himself into the opposite half of the overstuffed chair Prompto is now taking up residence in, squishing himself against one armrest and Prompto against the other. Prompto does his best not to focus on every point of contact where their bodies are pressed together. “The roof’s big enough for three.”

“Nah,” Prompto shakes his head, fumbling his phone in his fingers to give his hands something to do. “I don’t wanna third wheel you guys.”  
“Third wheel?”

“Well yeah,” Prompto isn’t sure how much of a secret the two of them are supposed to be to him, but here goes nothing. “You and Iggy, you ought to have a nice date or something before we have to get back to normal. Gotta make use of the time you have, right?”

“Date?” Noct echoes. His gaze is tangible and warm, and Prompto only avoids meeting his eyes because his fringe obscures part of his peripherals on that side.

“I mean, you guys are obviously some sort of thing,” Prompto shrugs. Easy. It’s all easy and fine. “Which is fine! As long as Lady Luna’s good with it —which I know Iggy would never agree to any of it without that so I’m sure it’s fine you know— then who cares, right?”

Noct clears his throat, once. Twice. “Yeah.”

Prompto and Noct sit, pressed together like sardines in a very comfortable can. Ignis is off doing the final grocery run of the vacation, and insisted he go it alone when Prompto tried to offer his assistance. He had been sure Noct would have taken a nap to try to scrape away some of his chronic exhaustion and Prompto would have spent the afternoon functionally alone.

Noct’s awake though, and the longer they remain in this chair together the more Noct leans into Prompto.

It’s nice.

It’s enough.

»»———— XV ————««

Long after night falls over the Quay, Prompto hears a knock on the bedroom door. He’d had the door closed not for a desire for privacy, but simply because the single-room AC unit worked better if there wasn’t any airflow out and he wanted somewhere cool and comfortable to review his photos from the last few days.

Prompto rolls over in bed and stretches, lightly tossing his camera onto the bedspread. He gives the okay to come in and Ignis opens the door, peeking around it almost hesitantly.

“Are you busy?”

“Nope,” Prompto points a thumb toward his camera, tilted awkwardly on its side on the comforter. “Just going through photos. Same old.”

“I see,” Ignis edges into the room and lingers by the door. “There’s a meteor shower tonight.”  
Prompto can’t help but smile at the repeat of earlier. “I know. Noct told me.”

“Would you like to join us?” Ignis says. That look, the one Prompto has caught so many times this past week or two, is back. “Noctis and I will be viewing it from the roof.”  
  
“He told me that, too,” Prompto waves Ignis off. “It’s okay, dude. I don’t wanna intrude on you guys.”

“What if I told you we want you there?” Ignis supposes. His head is tilted slightly and his unstyled bangs just barely brush his eyelashes when he blinks. 

Prompto swallows. Something about the way Ignis said that sounds… like a little bit more than just an invitation for some stargazing. “You don’t have to put yourselves out for me. Sounds like it’d be a real nice opportunity for a date. You should take advantage of it.”

“We plan to,” Ignis steps forward the few feet it takes him to reach the bed. He reaches out a hand and Prompto feels his breath depart from his lungs all at once when Ignis tilts his chin up with a gloved hand. “What if I told you we want you?”  
Prompto laughs. He doesn’t mean to, but the situation is so ridiculous that he can’t stop himself. “Don’t joke around like that.”

“We’re not,” Ignis leans down so the two of them are at eye level. His hand is still placed ever so lightly under Prompto’s chin. “You should hear the way Noct has always spoken of you.”

Prompto’s next words come as more of a wheeze than speech. “And you?”

Ignis’s eyes are so green. Ridiculously green. Illegally green. “I do believe I fell for you the day you arrived at Noct’s apartment with a black eye. I asked what you had done and you insisted it was nothing.”  
  
“It _was_ nothing.”  
  
“You were fifteen years old, a civilian, untrained. You fended off a grown man twice your weight for Noct’s sake. It wasn’t nothing.”

Prompto can’t take this. He averts his eyes and turns his head, trying not to regret it as Ignis’s hands drop back to his sides. “You don’t know what you’re saying. I’m not like you guys.”

“Bullshit,” Noct startles Prompto, striding into the room like he owns the place. Until their rental runs out, he kind of does. He walks up to the bed, stretches upward to place a kiss on Ignis’s cheek, then turns his full attention to Prompto. He takes hold of Prompto’s hands, which had been sitting limp in his lap. “Do you want this?”

“‘This?’” Prompto squeaks. Noct’s hands are so soft.

“If you feel the way we both have,” Ignis says. “You are welcome with us. The third of a ménage à trois. You always have been.”

Prompto looks from Noct to Ignis, seeing nothing but sincerity in both their faces. Noct squeezes his hands.

»»———— XV ————««

Prompto has his first kiss —and his second, and third— on the roof of an old cottage a hundred miles from the smoking ruins of Insomnia. He doesn’t know what lies ahead for any of them, but the present is looking pretty good.

Now …

Prompto just has to figure out what to say to Gladio when he gets back.


End file.
